When Wen Tingli woke, her whole body ached.

The room was somewhat dim, unusually quiet around her; she stared blankly around, her mind a complete blank as if washed clean by water.

Without warning, fragmented pieces of memory came flooding back to her all at once.

Raging flames, the terrifying clamor, and amid the towering black smoke, someone searching for her in desperate anguish.

“Wen Tingli!”

That voice—even in a dream, it could make her soul tremble.

She bolted upright from the bed as if struck by electricity.

“Miss Wen, you’re awake.” Someone lit the lamp in the room and hurried to her bedside.

Wen Tingli looked blankly ahead, and it took her a long moment to recognize Nurse Melissa from Louis’s clinic.

“Where am I…” Wen Tingli paused for just a moment, then asked urgently, “Where’s Mr. Lu?”

Only as she spoke did she realize her throat felt as if it were full of sand, hoarse and painful.

“Don’t move yet.” Melissa gently steadied her shoulder. “You inhaled a lot of smoke in the fire, you’re still under observation—drink some water first and see how you’re doing. If anything feels off, I’ll have to tell Dr. Louis and the others right away.”

Wen Tingli noticed she was in a guest room of the Lu mansion, and there was no staying in bed after that.

“Where is Mr. Lu? Is the fire out? Was he hurt? I need to go see him.”

Melissa firmly held Wen Tingli down.

“Director Cheng and Dr. Louis are treating Mr. Lu right now. Both of you need proper treatment and rest at the moment.”

“Is he badly hurt? Why are there so many doctors here?” She tried several times to get out of bed, but couldn’t get past Melissa, and in her impatience grabbed the water cup from Melissa’s hand and drained it in one gulp. “See, I finished the water, and I don’t feel unwell at all, I’m really fine—please let me go see how Mr. Lu’s doing.”

Melissa helplessly went to report to Louis, and before long footsteps of several people sounded in the corridor—along with Dr. Louis came a few internal medicine doctors from Huiqun Hospital as well.

Dr. Louis examined Wen Tingli’s nervous system, while the other doctors used a stethoscope to check her lungs.

“How is it?” Wen Tingli looked up first at Louis on her left, then at Director Cheng on her right. “Can I get up now?”

The doctors conferred briefly, and seeming to conclude Wen Tingli’s condition was reasonably good, their attitudes softened somewhat.

“We recommend Miss Wen continue to rest in bed. Besides, Mr. Lu is already asleep now, so even if you want to see him, it’ll have to wait until tomorrow.”

“Just a look through the doorway is enough—I just want to see with my own eyes that he’s all right.”

At Wen Tingli’s insistence, Louis finally agreed to let Melissa support Wen Tingli upstairs to visit Lu Shicheng. Just as they reached the top of the stairs, they saw Kuang Zhilin and a tall female doctor talking outside a bedroom door.

Kuang Zhilin, usually one to keep his feelings well hidden, wore an expression brimming with delight this time.

“Last time he spoke was after being ambushed, this time it’s because of the fire—maybe it really is as Dr. Karin said, that only when truly facing a life-or-death crisis does it trigger the instinct… I’m genuinely thrilled. Young Master Cheng gave three whole sentences outside the fire tonight, every single one clearly articulated—we just don’t know if this—”

Just then he caught sight of Wen Tingli, and both of them stopped talking at once. A complicated look flashed across Kuang Zhilin’s face, but he immediately came hurrying warmly toward Wen Tingli.

“Miss Wen’s awake.”

But Wen Tingli was only looking at the closed door behind him.

“I want to go in and see Mr. Lu.”

Kuang Zhilin, still worked up, said, “Miss Wen, do you know Young Master Cheng can speak now? I wanted to ask you about something.”

The female doctor beside them couldn’t help but cut in. “And this is?”

“Ah, look at me, got so excited I forgot the introduction.” Kuang Zhilin said to Wen Tingli, “This is Dr. Karin, a psychology specialist in charge of treating Young Master Cheng’s muteness.”

“How do you do.” Wen Tingli bowed slightly to Dr. Karin, who caught her by the arm. “No need to stand on ceremony. Mr. Kuang tells me Young Master Lu was with you when the fire broke out—could you tell us in detail what happened at the time?”

“I was trapped in the fire and couldn’t get out. I heard him come looking for me, he—he called my name very clearly.”

Dr. Karin looked somewhat puzzled. “In that kind of situation, were you able to identify with certainty that it was Young Master Lu’s voice?”

Wen Tingli was about to answer when Dr. Louis interjected with a smile, “I forgot to mention to Dr. Karin—the first time Young Master Lu spoke while ill, it was also this Miss Wen here who heard it beside him, so I imagine whoever else’s voice she might mistake, she wouldn’t mistake Young Master Lu’s.”

Dr. Karin seemed to understand, and gave Wen Tingli a warm look. “Ah, I see.”

As Kuang Zhilin escorted her downstairs, Dr. Karin murmured a few words to him quietly. Meanwhile Wen Tingli tried to slip inside to see Lu Shicheng, only to be blocked at the door by a few attendants.

Kuang Zhilin hurried back. “Please let Miss Wen in.”

Then he quietly pulled her aside. “Before you go in, allow me to ask you something else.”

He led Wen Tingli to the room across the hall, which had a sofa, gestured for Melissa to help her sit down, then dismissed everyone, leaving only Dr. Louis and Nurse Melissa waiting outside the door.

Once seated, Kuang Zhilin asked cautiously, “Was tonight’s fire an accident, or was it set deliberately—does Miss Wen have any idea?”

Wen Tingli, remembering the door in the storage room that had suddenly refused to budge, said bitterly, “Someone set the fire deliberately! Before the fire started, I was locked in the dressing room, and the scene had clearly been doused with gasoline beforehand—otherwise it wouldn’t have spread so fast.”

“So could this fire have been aimed at Miss Wen specifically?”

Wen Tingli said grimly, “Very likely. Someone was following me a while back too—nothing came of it at the time, but I suspect they’d been wanting to move against me for a while now.”

Kuang Zhilin’s expression grew even more serious. “Forgive my asking, but has Miss Wen offended anyone over these past six months?”

“As for old enemies, there’s only Qiu Dapeng, and possibly Deng Tianxing too, though I’m not sure that counts. Neither of them has shown up in a long while, though what they’ve been up to in secret is unknown—but that doesn’t rule out other suspects either. As for anyone else, I spend my days either at school studying or on set filming—I barely have time to make new friends, let alone offend anyone—”

A face flashed through her mind, and she asked urgently, “Did Old Lu from our set make it out? He was trapped in the studio same as me.”

“Don’t worry, he’s out safe. At the time, it was this Mr. Lu who went looking for Young Master Cheng—Young Master Cheng was nearby on the street but wasn’t sure whether you were still stuck inside the studio, so he didn’t rush straight into the fire at first… but never mind that now. After Young Master Cheng pulled Miss Wen out, worried there might be others still inside the building, he immediately notified your company and the French Concession fire department (note), and the fire was put out before long. Afterward, Director Huang did a headcount on site and confirmed everyone from your company was accounted for outside. If tonight’s fire really was set deliberately, the target was most likely Miss Wen, and that Old Lu was simply caught in the crossfire.”

He added seriously, “This matter won’t be allowed to just fade away quietly. The police station has already begun investigating, and both the Lu family and Golden Film Studios will cooperate fully with them—I believe the truth will come to light before long. If Miss Wen thinks of any leads herself, please tell me right away. Oh, and Young Master Cheng hasn’t stopped coughing since pulling Miss Wen out—”

Wen Tingli’s expression tightened.

Kuang Zhilin raised a hand soothingly. “The doctor says it might be aspiration pneumonia, he’ll need to rest quietly for a few days. He fell asleep after taking his medicine—I’d guess he’ll be waking up again soon. Miss Wen, it’d be best to just look in on him briefly and then come back out—you’re both patients, and you both need rest right now.”

He walked Wen Tingli to the door of Lu Shicheng’s bedroom, then withdrew to the side with Melissa.

Wen Tingli gently turned the door handle.

She’d been to the Lu mansion several times before, but this was her first time actually entering Lu Shicheng’s bedroom. Stepping in, she first found herself in a sitting room—ordinarily she wouldn’t have had the mind to take in the room’s furnishings, but knowing this was Lu Shicheng’s own bedroom, beyond curiosity there was also a deep sense of intimacy. Pale gray walls, gilded basswood furniture, two rows of white-paned windows taller than the ceilings of most ordinary homes.

By now the sky had already begun to lighten, pale blue morning light streaming in through the windows; the teak floor, having soaked up wax over the years, reflected a soft gleam in the dawn light. A piece of famous Chinese ink-wash painting hung on the wall, everything wrapped in an elegant, tranquil atmosphere.

She walked straight through the door on the right, and found that the room beyond was the actual bedroom.

Going in, she saw Lu Shicheng asleep on the bed, and Wen Tingli instinctively stopped in her tracks.

Lu Shicheng was sleeping deeply; a number of medicine bottles sat by the bedside. She held her breath at the door for a few seconds to make sure her arrival hadn’t disturbed him, then continued forward with the lightest of steps to the side of the bed.

Lu Shicheng had always slept quietly, but the moment she reached the bedside she noticed his breathing was heavier than the last time he’d been recovering from injury—probably due to the pneumonia. She quietly sat down on the sofa by the bed, studying his sleeping face.

She then noticed a layer of glistening ointment on the arm he had outside the blanket, and leaning in for a closer look, realized it was actually a burn.

Wen Tingli’s breath caught, and she carefully lifted his arm to examine it more closely—but the moment she touched it, Lu Shicheng, eyes closed, frowned and turned his head on the pillow, as if suddenly jolted awake, and with startling speed pulled a gun from under his pillow and aimed it straight at her.

Their gazes collided in midair.

Sleepiness still lingered in Lu Shicheng’s dark eyes, loose strands of hair falling across his forehead, giving him a rather boyish look at first glance. But his state was one of a grown man’s particular alertness and wariness—likely a habit formed since childhood in some kind of environment, never fully letting his guard down even in sleep.

Once he recognized it was Wen Tingli, he too seemed to freeze.

Wen Tingli stood stunned for a moment, then stammered, “I was worried about your injuries, so I came to see you.”

Lu Shicheng stared fixedly at Wen Tingli for a moment, then silently withdrew the gun and fell back onto the bed—but no sooner had he lain down than, apparently finding this improper, he sat back up against the headboard. Wen Tingli recognized at a glance that the cherry-white pajamas he wore were the very ones she’d bought him once.

Lu Shicheng first glanced up at the light outside the window, then turned to give her an indifferent glance, only to unexpectedly find Wen Tingli looking at him with a sweet smile on her face.

“How did you get there so quickly last night?” Wen Tingli’s voice was small and sweet. “You were right outside the set at the time, weren’t you? You were worried about me?”

Lu Shicheng closed his eyes and moved to get out of bed. Wen Tingli hurried to her feet and pressed his shoulder down. “Do you want some water? Let me get it for you.”

She quickly circled around from the foot of the bed to the other nightstand, bent down, and handed him the water cup.

Lu Shicheng looked her over for a moment, then took the cup without a word.

Wen Tingli watched him drink with a face full of smiles.

Lu Shicheng finished half the cup and was about to set it back down, but Wen Tingli beat him to it and took it from him. “I’ll put it back for you.”

Then she started studying, with great seriousness, the medicine bottles on his nightstand.

“Is it time for your medicine? Let me see which one you need now.”

Louis had a good habit when preparing medicine—to prevent patients from taking the wrong dose or missing one, he always put labels on every bottle beforehand, just as he had the last time Lu Shicheng recovered at Wen Tingli’s place. Wen Tingli quickly sorted out the whole array of bottles, picked out a small white one, shook out five pills, and handed them to Lu Shicheng.

“Take this one first.”

Lu Shicheng’s silence seemed a form of resistance, but it only held for a moment before he took the cup and swallowed the pills with water.

Wen Tingli immediately picked up another bottle—a heavy black glass one—to examine. Inside was a thick brown syrupy medicine, with a small silver spoon tucked into the box alongside it.

“And then this one.” She opened the lid, scooped out a spoonful, and brought it to his lips.

Lu Shicheng’s gaze drifted quietly from Wen Tingli’s face down to her hand, but he wouldn’t open his mouth.

“You’re injured, it’s inconvenient for you—since I’m here anyway, why can’t I help you?”

Lu Shicheng watched the spoon in her hand come closer to his lips, then suddenly said, “I’ll do it myself.”

The moment those words came out, the room fell instantly silent.

Wen Tingli’s face was full of shock—although she’d heard Lu Shicheng speak once before, that whole situation had felt so chaotic and dreamlike that, thinking back on it afterward, it never quite felt real. But now, Lu Shicheng was speaking clearly, plainly, right in front of her.

These words struck her like a peal of spring thunder, echoing deep within her heart.

“You—”

Lu Shicheng himself seemed a bit stunned, but he appeared to have already braced himself for his body’s change—it took him only two seconds to go from shock back to composure.

In the blink of an eye his expression settled into calm, and in a certain tone he spoke again: “Give me the spoon.”

This time his enunciation was even clearer, his voice hoarse and deep.

Wen Tingli remained caught in overwhelming shock, watching wide-eyed as Lu Shicheng took the spoon from her hand and fed himself the medicine, then watching him pull the bottle from her grip and set it back on the nightstand beside him, utterly stunned the entire time, unable to think.

Only when she heard the real, solid clink of the glass bottle against the nightstand did she snap back to herself.

She rose to her feet, overjoyed.

Unlike last time, which had been a fleeting one-off, this time he’d actually—

“Was that really your voice just now?” Her voice trembled. “You spoke! I need to tell Dr. Karin right away, she was so worried about your condition once you woke up—don’t move, let me look at your throat.”

As she spoke, she leaned in toward him, and, too caught up in excitement and curiosity, propped both hands unthinkingly on the blanket over him. Lu Shicheng, watching that face drawing ever closer above him, said abruptly, “Miss Wen—”

Wen Tingli froze.

“Please leave. I don’t need your care here.”

Wen Tingli thought she must have misheard, but though Lu Shicheng’s voice was somewhat hoarse and low, each word came through with perfect clarity.

“Your being here is very inconvenient for me.” Lu Shicheng’s tone was tightly controlled. “Please go back and tend to your own injuries.”

Wen Tingli sat back down on the sofa by the bed.

“I’m not leaving. If Mr. Lu finds me so irritating the moment he sees me, why did he risk his life to break into the fire and save me last night?”

Lu Shicheng said nothing.

“Don’t tell me you just happened to be passing by, just happened to rush into the set, just happened to save me from the fire!”

She gave a scoffing “hah” toward the ceiling. “Save those excuses to fool yourself—they certainly won’t fool me.”

“I did go specifically looking for you.” Lu Shicheng said abruptly.

Wen Tingli was startled, then broke into a triumphant smile.

Lu Shicheng, without a trace showing, moved his gaze away from her smiling face, and said flatly, “The reason I went looking for you was because someone had put □□ in a guest’s glass at the Gao residence, and this matter happened to involve you.”

Wen Tingli was alarmed.

“That glass was the very champagne glass you were holding when you came to find me in the bridge room.”

“You’re saying someone poisoned my two glasses?!”

“To be precise, only one of the two champagne glasses was poisoned.” Lu Shicheng watched her expression without blinking. “Others may not know, but I know for certain both glasses were brought there by you personally.”

Wen Tingli suddenly looked at him with suspicion. “Mr. Lu doesn’t suspect I was trying to poison you, does he?”

Lu Shicheng gave no clear answer.

“Lu Shicheng?!” Wen Tingli was practically outraged.

“That’s not what I think.”

“If I wanted to poison you, I’ve had countless chances long before now—why would I wait until last night?”

Lu Shicheng didn’t argue the point, only waited quietly for her to calm down before asking, “That glass had your lipstick mark on the rim—had you drunk from that glass before then?”

“I hadn’t gotten around to drinking from it yet.”

The previous night, when she’d gone to find Lu Shicheng, she actually hadn’t yet decided how to approach him, and had first picked up a glass of champagne at the dessert table, standing there lost in thought for quite a while.

During that time, guests kept passing behind her, and others kept coming up beside her to grab pastries—if someone had slipped poison into her glass while she was distracted, she might not have noticed at all.

She’d then poured a second glass of champagne to go find Lu Shicheng, only to run into Meng Qiguang and Gao Tingxin, and had no choice but to hide in the bushes, crouching there until her legs went numb before coming out. Standing up unsteadily, her lips had accidentally brushed the rim of the glass, leaving a lipstick mark—but she’d never actually drunk from it the whole time.

If she’d drunk that glass of champagne without any suspicion, or if the other party had had enough time to smear poison along the rim, she might well have died on the spot—it was truly impossible to guard against everything!

She broke out in a cold sweat in retrospect, standing dazed for a good while before coming back to herself, wiping the cold sweat from her forehead. “It shouldn’t be hard to find the suspect—just get the guest list from Gao Tingxin for last night, it wouldn’t be difficult to work out who had the most motive. But I imagine even once we identify who did it, there may not be enough evidence to actually charge them, unless there’s a witness.”

Lu Shicheng fell silent for a moment. “After learning of this, I guessed you probably didn’t know someone had poisoned you—I wanted to have Kuang Zhilin call to warn you, but they told me you were shooting a night scene on set, so—”

“So you just went straight to the set to find me yourself?”

Wen Tingli’s smile deepened, and then, he’d risked danger to break in and save her.

Lu Shicheng tried his best to maintain a serious, cool expression as he looked at Wen Tingli.

But by this point, Wen Tingli was no longer troubled by his put-on coldness. She glanced at his burned arm and said with a face full of tender concern, “That must hurt terribly, doesn’t it—let me take a look.”

The moment her hand touched it, Lu Shicheng calmly peeled her fingers off his arm one by one.

Wen Tingli bit her lip, glaring at him. “Does it have to be like this?”

Lu Shicheng simply swung himself out of bed on the other side, but the sudden movement set off a fit of coughing.

Wen Tingli hurried around to the other side of the bed. “The doctor said you have pneumonia, let me help you.”

Lu Shicheng immediately raised his arm to keep Wen Tingli from supporting him.

“I believe I’ve already said, I don’t need your care. I appreciate Miss Wen’s good intentions, but men and women should keep their distance—please leave my bedroom at once.”

“Fine, I’ll go. I won’t bother you again.”

She turned to leave without the slightest hesitation, but hadn’t gone two steps before her vision swam, and her feet wobbled unsteadily beneath her.

Lu Shicheng, watching from behind, saw her about to fall and couldn’t help but step forward to catch her.

A smile crept onto Wen Tingli’s lips, and she immediately turned and rested her head against his shoulder, and hearing his heart pounding against his chest, said softly, happily, “You still love me deep down—why do you keep quarreling with me?”

Lu Shicheng pulled her away from himself, saying with a touch of anger, “Just how many more times are you going to play this trick on me?!”

Wen Tingli looked at him, still smiling. “If you truly didn’t care about me at all, this little trick of mine wouldn’t work on you no matter what.”

Lu Shicheng struggled to keep his composure. “I caught you only because I didn’t want to watch you fall and hurt yourself in front of me—just like last night, no matter who was trapped in that fire, I wouldn’t have stood by and done nothing. That’s simple human decency, it has nothing to do with whether I love you or not.”

“You’re lying.” Wen Tingli said softly. “I heard how you searched for me in that fire—save those words to fool yourself, I don’t believe a single one of them.”

Lu Shicheng turned his face away. “Then that just proves Miss Wen and I have vastly different understandings of what love means. In my view, a relationship shouldn’t be mixed with so many lies and concealments—from the moment you deceived me, this relationship changed its nature in my heart. How exactly am I supposed to make you understand that?”

“You—”

You stubborn mule!

Lu Shicheng had no idea he’d become a mule in Wen Tingli’s mind. He calmly cut off what she was about to say. “I’ve said what I have to say. If Miss Wen still won’t leave, I’ll give you this room and go myself.”

Wen Tingli stormed toward the door. “No need! If anyone’s leaving, it’s me—as soon as Dr. Louis agrees, I won’t waste another moment, I’ll leave the Lu residence at once.”

She went downstairs to her own room and had someone fetch Dr. Louis, resolved to leave immediately—but somehow, waiting there, she fell asleep, and when she woke again, she heard someone speaking softly nearby.

“Don’t worry, there’s nothing seriously wrong with Miss Wen, she’s just exhausted—let her sleep, sleep helps her recover her strength too.”

“Amitabha! How is Mr. Lu doing? I really must thank him properly in person later.”

Wen Tingli’s heart gave a jolt—that voice sounded just like Zhou Sao’s.

“No rush.” Melissa said with a smile. “Young Master Lu is a patient himself right now too, there’ll be a chance to thank him later. Oh my, Xiao Taozi, what are you looking for?”

Wen Tingli couldn’t help but open her eyes, and saw Zhou Sao and Xiao Taozi standing by the bed.

“Why are you two here?” she asked, taken aback.

“Mr. Kuang brought us over.” Zhou Sao hurried closer.